Street-indicating device



E. P. FOLLETT.

STREET INDICATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED AUGJI. l9l7- Patented June 3,1919.

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STREET INDICATING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG.H. 191

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Patented J 11110 3, 1919.

EDWARD P. FOLLETT, 0F DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

STREET-INDIGATIN'G DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent. 'Patented June 3, 1919.

Application filed August 11, 1917. Serial No. 185,787.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD P. FoLLE'r'r, a citizen of the-United States, residin at Duluth, in the county of St. Louis and S tate of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Street-Indicating Devices, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention consists of certain newand useful improvements in street indicating devices for vehicles and relates particularly to such devices for use in street cars.

The principal objects are simplicity of construction and practicability.

Another object is to provide means whereby portions of the device requiring alterations or changes may .be quickly and conveniently removed from the remainder of the device for such purpose.

Other objects and advantages of my novel construction will appear in the further description of the invention.

In the illustrated embodiment of the de- Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view partly in elevation of the operating means. 7

Fig. 4 is a similar view of a frictional governing device for the drive shaft, and V Fig. 5 is a similar view of a fragmental portion of the roll controlling means.

In the accompanying drawings like reference characters indicate like parts:

1 represents the rear wall of a rectangular shaped receptacle in which the mechanism is housed. This wall is preferably made of cast metal and is formed with a relatively short projecting flange 2 wholly thereabout and to which flange the side and end walls of the metal housing 3 is securely fixed in any desired manner as for example by'rivets or screw bolts 4. .Upon the lower side wall of this housing is hinged as at 5 thefront portion 6 of the housing, said portion 6 having any desired form of opening 7 through which the lettering upon the indicator may be viewed. The opening 7 may or may not be covered by a suitable glass as illustrated at 8. The upper edge of the portion 6 of vertically from each other. tremity of each pair of struts 10 carry a verthe housing may be provided with'any desired form of clasp 9 for holding it-in place against the cooperating portion of the hous- 'ing, as is obvious.

Fixed to the inner face of the wall or plate 1 or formed integral therewith as preferred are fourforwardly projecting struts 10, two adjacent each end of the plate and spaced The outer extically disposed bar 11 which is attached to the struts by means of suitable screws 12.

Cen-

naled the driving shaft 13 of the mechanism. Upon the driving shaft and adjacent each end thereof is securely fixed a sprocket disk 14 having substantially semi circularly shaped sprockets 15 formed integral upon the peripheral edge thereof, said edge being in the form of a fiat surface intermediate'of the sprockets as at 16.

As a means for imparting intermittent r0- tating motion to the shaft 13, I have illus- -trated two ratchet wheels 17, as being fixed to the shaft and spaced apart one upon each side of the center thereof, and it will be noted that each ratchet wheel is provided wlth the same number of teeth as formed upon the sprocket disk 14 for reasons ap-' pearing later. 7

In Fig. 3 I have illustrated the ratchet wheel 17 which is designed for turning'the shaft in an anti-clockwisedirection, the re ciprocal operating pawl 18 being adjacent the under side of the wheel, the reverse of such arrangement being required for operating the shaft 13 in a clock-wise direction,

that is to say, the ratchet cogs upon the other wheel 17 are just the reverse .of those illustrated in Fig. 3 and the operating pawl will occur above said wheel as is obvious. The pawl 18 is pivo-tally carried upon a reciprocal pitman 19 the head end 20 of which is larger in diameter than the remainder thereof and which end slidably fits within the supporting cylinder 21, either screw threadedly mounted within the plate 1 of the receptacle or formed integral therewith as preferredl Intermediate of the shoulder formed by the enlargement of the head 20 of the pitman and the inner end 22 of the cylinder and surrounding the pitman is carried an expansive spiral spring 23 which normally holds the pitman fully extended asillustrated in the sketch. A projection 24 is formed upon the lower front end of the cylinder 21 and is provided with an upwardly turned lip 25 which is designed to impinge the shoulder 26 formed upon the hub portion of the pawl 18 which is pivoted upon the pin 27, thus when the pitman is fully extended as illustrated the :pawl 18 will remain in its lowermost position and disengaged from the ratchet wheel .17. Afia-t leaf spring 28 is fixed as at 29 to the .lower face of the cylinder 21 and .protrudesbeyond the forward extension of same and is arched upwardly to bear against the under side of the pawl 18, whereby, when the pitman 19 is drawn in such a manneras-todisengage the shoulder 26 from the lip 25 the pawl will be instantly raised to. engagement with :the ratchet wheel 17. By this arrangement the pawl is normally held from engagement with the ratchet wheel 17, which permits of the operation of the mechanism by either one or the other of the pawl engaging devices independently. A pin 30 is fixed-transverse the head 20 of the pitman l9 and protrudes laterally therefrom. .Slots 31 are formed in the two horizontally opposed sides of the cylinder 21 and in which slots the protruding-ends of {the pin 30 reciprocate to prevent the pitman revolving in :the

cylinder 21.

Intermediate of the ratchet wheels 1717 is securely fixed to the shaft 13 a disk 32 having V-shaped notches 33 about the :perip'heral edge thereof, said notches corresponding in number to :the number of sprockets on the disk 14. Directly opposite the peripheral edge of the disk 32 is formed integral with the back 1, a cylindrical hollow projection 34 in .which is reciprocally mounted pitman 35 having :an enlarged outer head 36 thereupon and in back of which is mounted a spiral spring'37for normally holding the pitman in its outermost position, said pitman being "held against turning by a. transverse protruding pin 37 fixed therein and operative within opposite slots 38 similar to the arrangement disclosed in the pawl carrying pitman 19. The outer extremity of the head 36 of=the1pitman 35 is bifurcated as at 39 and carries within said bifurcated portion a pin 40 carrying-a roller 41 for engaging the peripheral edge of the disk 32 and when encountering one of the notches 33 in said disk, exerts a tendency to hold the disk against revolution and thus acts as a governing device to the rotation of the shaft 13 and tends to hold same in its predetermined position resulting from the pawl and ratchet mechanism above described.

Removably carried upon the bars 1111 is a rectangular shaped frame comprising the end walls 42-42 and the sides 4343. This frame is made removable by having notches 44 and 45 formed in one edge of the end walls thereof, the upper notches 44 being made to hookover suitable pins 46 fixed within the upper end of the bars 11 and the lower notches 45 made to register with suitable pins 47. A dog 48 is pivotally mounted upon each end 42 of said frame adjacent the notches 45 .for .the purpose of hooking over the pins 47 when the frame is in place and the dogs are maintained in such hooked positionby meansofany suitable spring 49 or .they may be made to .maintain such position by gravity.

:In the upper and lower portions-of the frame 42l3 are 'rotatably mounted two rolls 50 and 51. Each of these rolls is mountedupo-n an axle 52 non-rotatably fixed within an elongatedslot 54 where it normally assumes an angular position :tosaid slot and engages behind a shoulder 55 therein :ina manner very similar :to the common and well known mounting of a curtain roll. Adjacent each'end of-eachshaft 52 is formed a reduced portion as at .56 and upon which the ends of the rolls are rotatably mounted as is also at :one enda sprmg equalizing disk 57. As a means for malntamlng rotativetension uponithe rolls,t.wo spiral springs 58 and 59 are employed about each axle,

the latter being spirally wound about the axle 52, oneend 60 of which is made secure to the shaft and the opposite end :61 made secure within the disk 57 .and the former being wound about-lthe'latter and havingone end 62 fixed to the disk 57 and-the opposite end '63 :fixed in one end of the roll. I have found in practice that the springs operateto best advantage by the inner-one being made of somewhat smaller wire "than the outer one, and the object of the idle disk 57 is to maintain proper co-action of the springs, the inclination of the spiral of the springs being in opposite directions to avoid their becoming abnormally frictionally engaged. By this arrangement of spring tension for the rolls it is found that the maximum number of turns of the roll may be accomplished with uniform and satisfactory tension. About the rolls 50 and 51 is mounted the street indicating film .or sheet 64, it being of any desired material and having the street designationsthereupon and spaced to properly register with theopening 7 in the front of the receptacle. Adjacent the side edges of the film 64 are formed a plurality ofholes 65 spaced apart the proper distance to :register with the sprockets 15 upon the wheels 14 and by the action of which sprockets the film is operated in either direction. The springs within the rolls 50 trated the two ratchet wheels 17 as being operated by an electric magnet in the form of a solenoid 66, which may be intermittently controlled by any desired form of electric switch not shown, and which may be located for convenient manual operation either by the conductor or motorman of the car to which the mechanism is applied. While I have illustrated this form of manipulation of the pitman, 19, it is to be understood that a suitable rope or cord may be attached'to the eye 67 formed in the pitman 19 and illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings and by which the pitman may be reciprocated manually if so desired.

As a means for holding the rollers in any predetermined state of rotative tension in respect to the springs, as for example when placing a new indicating film thereabout, I provide a thumb-screw 68 opposite one end of each roller and screw-threadedly mounted within one end -12 of the roller supporting frame. By this means the free roller may be turned against the tension of its inclosed springs any number of revolutions desired and there securely held by caus ing its cooperating screw 68 to forcibly impinge the end thereof.

From the foregoing it is evident that I have devised a simple form of indicator, the film rolls of which may be removed or adjusted with the least amount of labor and annoyance, and that it involves but a single operation to substitute one film for another upon the rolls when such becomes necessary.

Having thus described my invention, what I do claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A street indicator for vehicles comprising a suitable housing, a support fixed to one vertical wall of thehousing inside of and adjacent each end thereof, a shaft rotatably carried upon the supports, a rigid rectangular shaped frame removably carried upon the supports independently of the shaft, rollers carried within the frame,

a film cooperatively wound around the rollers, means carried by the shaft for operating the film and means for intermittently operating the shaft.

2. The combination with a street indicator of the character described having a pair of spaced rollers carrying an operative film, of a pair of spiral springs within each roller, one within the other and longitudinally thereof for'imparting a rotary stress in opposite directions in each roller.

3. The combination with a street indicator of the character described comprising a pair of vertically spaced rollers, an indicating film cooperatively wound about the rollers, a shaft intermediate of the rollers, means upon the shaft and engageable with the film for operating the latter and means for operating the shaft, of a pair of spiral springs wlthin each roller for imparting a rotarv stress in opposite directions to each roller.

4. The combination with a film carrying roller of the character described of a pair of spiral springs disposed longitudinally within the roller, one within the other and wound in opposite directions and means whereby the stress of the springs are made to cooperate in their action upon the roller.

5. The combination with a street-indicator of the character described comprising a pair of vertically spaced rollers having an indicating film cooperatively wound thereabout, a shaft intermediate of the rollers, means upon the shaft and engageable with the film for operating the latter and means for operating the shaft, of a disk fixed to the shaft and having a plurality of notches in the peripheral edge thereof and a spring controlled roller engageable with the notches for holding the disk yieldably by such engagement substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence of two witnesses:

EDWARD P. FOLLETT.

Witnesses:

S. G. BRONSON, S. GEO. s'mvms,

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. G. 

